Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the Public Utility Commission of Texas and grid operator ERCOT to halt all approvals for new data center connections starting August 3. The ERCOT interconnection queue now holds over 1,800 projects requesting a combined capacity of 474 GW, while the state’s all-time peak demand has never exceeded 91,089 MW. This decision puts approximately 49.8 GW of projects at risk, representing nearly 20% of the entire US data center pipeline. According to BloombergNEF, associated revenue losses are estimated between $8 billion and $15 billion by early 2027, depending on the proportion of AI-related projects. Cryptocurrency mining operations, which are heavily concentrated in Texas, are also caught in the crossfire, as the freeze makes no distinction between AI data centers and crypto mining facilities.
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